I. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method for leaving a mark on a fabric at a prescribed point in order to indicate a sewing position before sewing is made of the fabric to fit buttons and darts. More particularly it relates to such a method wherein a marking composition is ejected from a hollow needle which has pierced through piled fabric pieces, leaving a color mark on each of the fabric pieces.
II. Description of Prior Art
There are several known processes to provide a mark or marks on each of piled fabric pieces, prior to sewing, at a prescribed position such as button-fitting and dart-fitting positions. Among the well-known processes are perforation process, i.e. piercing a pile of fabric pieces with a needle to provide a hole in each piece, and hot perforation process, i.e. passing a heated needle through piled fabric pieces and marking them by scorching. Further, there is known a thread marking process by passing a thread-carrying needle through the piled fabric pieces, removing the needle with the thread left in the fabric pieces and cutting up the thread while the fabric pieces are taken off one by one, so as to cause the cut-up portions thereof to remain in each piece.
However, the perforation process cannot be applied to coarse woven fabric such as wool-like cloth since the marking hole made by this process will close some time after the needle is withdrawn. The hot perforation process has the drawback that the noticeable thermal cutting of fibers occurs and results in raveling of woven fibers, and the marks become unclear increasingly from the upper fabric pieces to the lower ones because in piercing the piled fabric pieces, the heated needle has its temperature lowered more at its tip. The thread marking process is accompanied with the drawback that a cut-up portion of the marking thread in each fabric piece is likely to come off. In addition the process is time-consuming, requiring about 20 seconds for a most skilled person.
Further, a process employing a coloring material is known which comprises dipping a needle with a spiral groove in an aqueous suspension of pigment and passing the needle through a pile of fabric pieces so as to leave the pigment in the groove on each piece. The color mark thus put is sufficiently distinct on the upper-positioned fabric piece but can hardly be perceived on the lower-positioned fabric piece. An improved process comprises passing a hollow needle through piled fabric pieces at a prescribed position and ejecting, during the piercing of the needle into or out of the fabric pieces, a color marking liquid from the tip of the needle thereby to put a color mark on each fabric piece. This process can uniformly provide a mark on each piece since the needle ejects the marking liquid all the time it pierces the fabric pieces. The marking liquid disclosed in the disclosure is an aqueous solution of a coloring agent and contains a water-soluble thickening agent such as polyvinyl alcohol or carboxymethyl cellulose as a flow control agent.